The Causal Frame Problem: An Algorithmic Perspective

Ardavan Salehi Nobandegani, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

Ioannis N. Psaromiligkos, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

Abstract

The Frame Problem (FP) is a puzzle in philosophy of mind,
articulated by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as follows: "How do we
account for our apparent ability to make decisions on the basis only of what is
relevant to an ongoing situation without having explicitly to consider all that
is not relevant?" In this work, we focus on the causal variant of the FP, the
Causal Frame Problem (CFP). We first introduce a notion called Potential Level
(PL). We substantiate the claim that PL may bear on how time is encoded in the
mind. Using PL, we propose an inference framework, PLIF, which permits a
boundedly-rational approach to the CFP, formally articulated at the algorithmic
level. We show that PLIF is consistent with several findings in the causal
judgment literature, and that PL and PLIF make a number of predictions, some of
which are supported by existing findings.